TOWNSVILLE has been identified as one of Australia’s cold and flu hotspots with 31 per cent of local residents reporting symptoms last year.

A five-year study of Australians aged 14 and over by Roy Morgan Research has New South Wales and Queensland vying for the title of Australia’s sickest state. Newcastle in NSW topped the influenza hotspot list for 2013 with 31.9 per cent of residents reporting flu-like symptoms.

Sydney’s southwest took out second place with 31.8 per cent reporting illness, followed by Townsville (31 per cent), Queensland’s coastal regions (30.4 per cent) and Western Sydney (28.8 per cent).

The southwest of Sydney, Townsville and coastal Queensland have been ­consistent entrants in the top five influenza hotspots since 2009, with an average of one in three residents self-reporting the flu, according to the research group.

“These figures are based on survey respondents’ own assertion that they had the flu in the past year, so while rates may indeed be regularly higher in Townsville, it’s possible the area’s tropically adjusted residents are just more likely to over-diagnose a sniffle,” Roy Morgan director of consumer products Angela Smith said.

Townsville public health physician Dr Steven Donohue said the research relied on people’s perceptions of influenza symptoms rather than confirmation of the potentially lethal virus. “Influenza is a serious illness and it is not this trivial business of just having a runny nose,” he said.

“People tend to generalise all symptoms as ‘the flu’.

“But genuine influenza can kill.”

Dr Donohue said that there had been 141 confirmed cases of influenza in Townsville as of last week, with that number also expected to spike in ­coming months.

He said statewide and local data showed the “real” outbreak of influenza had not yet started, and urged people to get vaccinated.

“That number (141 confirmed cases) is slightly up on last year ... but that is also just the tip of the iceberg.”

Latest health data shows 213 people have been admitted to hospital with influenza statewide so far this year.

Vaccinations are available for people aged six months or older and are strongly recommended for people aged 65 years or over, pregnant women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 15 years or older, people with underlying medical conditions and health professionals.

Comments on this story

Catherine Posted at 9:16 PM April 29, 2014

Or perhaps because people die of flu as they don't believe they're actually really, really sick.....

joe of tsv Posted at 1:20 PM April 29, 2014

Catherine i'm an anti vaxxer. I've never had the flu. Ive had a head cold, but thats it. As the article states, its people self diagnosing themselves with the flu that these figures come from, not any medical diagnosis. Maybe the figures indicate how precious we all are these days, and cry flu because we have a sniffle.